Isaiah 7:14--A Sign for you

What battle will you fight today? We all have battles to fight every day. It could be managing the complexities of an entire family’s holiday schedule and holiday task list. It may be a conflict with a co-worker. It may be an increasingly complex to-do list. We all will fight a battle today. How will we fight that battle?

Ahaz as king was charged to protect Jerusalem. He was successful in that (Isa 7:1) but when a greater alliance formed against him, “the hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind.” Ahaz had a battle before him that he would need to fight. Ahaz needed a sign from God to remind him that God would fight the battle for him. It is hard to know why he didn’t want the sign (the pious, “I don’t want to put the Lord to the test” didn’t fly with Isaiah 12-13). It seems that he would rather close his eyes and think that he was on his own rather than look for the sign and trust that God would fight the battle for him. That was unfortunate for him, for Isaiah’s prophecy to him was, “if you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.” (9)

God is generous in making himself known. If we will look for him in life and in scripture, he will gladly reveal himself. I think the reason we don’t want to look to him is because, we are like Ahaz. We would rather not see and have to respond to what we see. We would rather work with the smallness of our own life than to have look to God in his greatness and respond in faith to Him.

Yet, if we would only see this sign for what it is. It is the sign of Immanuel. It is the sign that means, “God is with us.” If God is with us, we can trust that he will not ask us to do something we are unable to do. He will not ask us to resist something that will overpower us. If he is with us, his skin is in our game. He will ride with us in our success and he will be with us in our failures. That is the beauty of Christmas. Jesus was born in humility to show us that in our humility, he is with us. Our brokenness will never be too broken for him. Our humility will never be too humble for him. If he could emerge from a feeding trough to become the resurrected Son of Man seated in heaven; than because he is with us, he can take us from our brokenness and humility into whatever battle we face today and enable us to stand firm in our faith.

Ephesians 3: Our Significance

So, how does it feel to be part of the most important organization in the history of the world? Are you feeling good today?

You have plenty of reasons to. After all, you’re part of the church.

You’re not a member of the World Champion Phillies. You’re not on the faculty of Harvard. You’re not the principle violinist of the New York Philharmonic. You’re not an oil sheik with OPEC.

You’re significance is far greater. Your stage is far larger. Your stock is far more valuable. You’re part of the church.

Ephesians 3 tells us that the mystery of God’s eternal plan has been revealed in the church. That is, that Jews and Gentiles alike are the objects of God’s love, and have together become shareholders in all the promises of God. So God’s incredible salvation is now on display, and we are that display! The church is God’s showcase, his “wisdom exhibit,” showing the whole universe just how smart a savior he is.

That fact drives Paul to prayer. He just wants you to know who you are in Christ. He wants you to feel the power of God’s Spirit within you; to be rooted deeply in God’s love; to somehow grasp the ungraspable and be filled with the immeasurable. He wants you full of God, pulsating with confidence and radiating glory.

So meditate deeply on God’s love today. Then his showcase will shine. Then his display will dazzle.

Posted by Greg